DISTRICT FEATURE 3
In her 37 year career,
Bettie Jones did things
by the book!
What keeps a person faithful to a particular job for more than 35 years? Just ask Bettie Anne Jones, Pasadena Independent School District media services cataloguer. She will tell you that it takes a good organization treating you right and a love for what you do.
“I fell in love with being a librarian when I was 12 years old,” Jones said. “Once I became employed at the Pasadena ISD, I knew that I would never leave. Why would you want to leave a place that has treated you so well for so many years?"
Jones, who has been employed by the Pasadena ISD for 37 years, retired in July. She has held two different positions that were equally enjoyable to her.
She was hired in 1965 as the Park View Intermediate librarian. She remained in that position for 32 years, while witnessing growth within the district and even seeing some of her former students become co-workers.
“When I came to the Pasadena ISD, there were no libraries in the elementary schools,” Jones said. “Now, there is not a school without one.”
In 1997, Jones was offered her current position in the media services department at the administration building. She knew that it would be a change, but it was one that she was willing to accept.
“I am not one for change,” she said. “I like to find my niche and stick with it. That is one of the reasons why I think that I have remained with the Pasadena ISD for so long. The change was good for me though. I love working with children, but as I have grown older, I now enjoy the calm and quiet office.”
Jones
developed the desire to be a librarian at the age of 12, when she started
working part-time at the Gibbs Memorial Library in her hometown of Mexia.
She graduated from Mexia High School in 1956 and attended North Texas
State College, now known as the University of North Texas, where she also
worked in the library. She received her bachelor’s degree there in 1959
with a major in library science. Pursuing her education even further,
Jones attended West Texas State College where she earned a master’s
degree in education in 1965.
After receiving her master’s degree, Jones became a librarian at Sam Houston Junior High in Amarillo, where she stayed for six years. During the summers there, she took on a part-time job with the public library driving the Book Mobile.
“There are benefits to being a school librarian, like getting to work with children, and helping them to find books that will encourage them to read,” Jones said. “But what I really enjoy is being a librarian in the Pasadena ISD. This district has definitely treated me right and I guess that is the reason that I have stayed here for 37 years.”